Lu Yi was secretly shocked.

Did Shen Zhijin have to personally take his assistant in, just because it was his assistant’s first time here?

Wasn’t this a little too–

Naturally, since this was what Shen Zhijin had said, he could not object. However, he was secretly just a little curious about that particular assistant.

“Alright, we’ll do as you say.”

The waiting time seemed to be exceptionally long.

January in Hong Kong City was still very warm. The sun shone down, and the lush leaves on both sides of the road cast a mottled shadow on the ground.

Lu Yi gradually became more anxious as he waited. It was one thing for Shen Zhijin’s assistant to be late, but the person was actually quite late.

He turned to look at Shen Zhijin, only to see that there was not a hint of impatience or dissatisfaction on his handsome and elegant face.

After another ten minutes, a black car drove along the road.

Shen Zhijin’s brows relaxed.

“She’s here.”

Lu Yi hurriedly looked over. When he saw the expensive car, he could not help but be stunned.

Why was this assistant of Shen Zhijin’s so ostentatious?

The car was parked at the roadside parking space. Then, Lu Yi saw a slender and tall girl get out of the driver’s seat.

She was wearing a white short-sleeved shirt, black pencil pants, a baseball cap on her head, and a black backpack slung over one shoulder.

Then, she looked up.

A beautiful and clean face came into view.

Lu Yi was stunned.

Shen Zhijin’s assistant was extremely young. Was she even twenty years old?

And why did she look familiar?

Shen Li walked over and spotted Shen Zhijin. She looked at her phone in surprise.

“Why are you here so early? Have you been waiting for a long time?”

He had said that he would be here at nine o’clock, so she had specially come ten minutes earlier. She had not expected him to already be here.

Shen Zhijin smiled.

“No, I just arrived.”

She had said that she would come here in advance to wait for him. He had wanted her to get more sleep, so he had deliberately delayed their meeting time by half an hour.

“This is the researcher from Mill Laboratory, Lu Yi.”

Shen Zhijin personally introduced him, so Lu Yi naturally extended his hand and smiled.

“Hello, I’m Lu Yi.”

Shen Li shook his hand.

“Hello, I’m Shen Li.”

Lu Yi could already see that the way Shen Zhijin treated this assistant was more than what was ordinary, so his attitude was much more polite.

“Professor Shen, the meeting starts at 9:30. Shall I take you two there first?”

Shen Zhijin nodded.

Lu Yi took a step ahead and led the way.

He glanced surreptitiously at Shen Li a few times. Thinking that it might not be easy to get close to a big shot like Shen Zhijin, he thought that it would also be a good idea to have a good relationship with his valued assistant.

So, he smiled and said, “Shen Li, I thought you looked familiar when I saw you. Have you been to Hong Kong City before?”

Shen Li’s lips curled into a smile.

“I came here once last year.”

“Oh, oh, I see…”

Lu Yi searched his mind and confirmed that he had indeed never seen her before.

Yet, she looked familiar. Well, it was probably an illusion…

As Shen Zhijin walked, he gave Shen Li a guided tour of the place, including the main research direction of Mill laboratory, various testing equipment, and several major simulation experiments that were being carried out.

He gave a detailed introduction to everything, and Shen Li listened attentively.

Only Lu Yi was left in a daze. The more he listened, the more surprised he became.

Shen Zhijin had an extremely high status in the international physics community. He had extremely high standards and strict requirements.

It was an extremely rare honor to be personally led on a tour by him.

Wasn’t he placing too much importance on this assistant?

However, now was not the right time to ask about this.

Lu Yi suppressed his surprise and pointed ahead.

“The conference room is on the third floor just up ahead. Please, you may go in.”

…

When Shen Li and the others arrived at the conference room, there were already four other consultants around the large oval-shaped conference table.

Shen Zhijin greeted them one by one before sitting down.

Each science advisor was allowed to bring an assistant to participate in the conference. Shen Li looked around and saw that apart from the conference table in the middle, several chairs had also been placed against the wall.

The assistants were sitting behind their respective boss’ seats.

She followed behind Shen Zhijin.

In the conference room, several pairs of eyes fell on her.

Surprise, curiosity, and confusion.

Many people knew that for the past two years, Shen Zhijin’s assistant had always been Yan Qiu. He would usually bring him along, especially when he attended such occasions.

Today was different and everyone was surprised that he had brought along such a young girl.

However, perhaps because there were several big shots present, the atmosphere was serious and solemn, so no one discussed these things.

Everyone stayed in their own seats and prepared for the meeting.

At 9:30, the meeting officially began.

Shen Li took out her notebook and looked up.

…

At 11:30, the meeting temporarily ended.

Shen Li saw that Shen Zhijin was still discussing something with an old professor and estimated that it would be a while before they would be done. So, she walked out of the meeting room first, intending on waiting for him outside.

However, just as she reached the corner, she heard her own name mentioned.

“What’s the background of that girl, Shen Li? How is it that she came with Professor Shen?”

“I’ve never heard of her. Logically speaking, Yan Qiu should be the one who accompanied him on this trip, right? Who knows how he was changed to such a person?”

“I just heard from Lu Yi that when she came this morning, Professor Shen specially waited for her outside the door for quite a while.”

“Really? Professor Shen treats her that well?”

“Of course it’s true.”

“… That’s really impressive. To be valued so highly by Professor Shen, she must be very capable in doing scientific research. However, why haven’t I heard of this name before?”

Shen Li could hear the voices of two other participating assistants together with another that she had never heard of. It must be someone from Mill’s laboratory.

Just then, her cell phone rang.

Those people finally realized that someone was there and immediately quieted down.

Shen Li lowered her head and canceled the boring promotion.

When she raised her head again, she noticed those people walking over.

When they realized that it was Shen Li, the expressions on their faces became a little awkward.

The one standing in the middle quickly adjusted his expression and smiled.

“Please don’t misunderstand. We’re just talking about the thesis. If you’re interested, you can tell us about yours. We can discuss it together and improve together, right?”

A boy who looked to be in his early twenties nodded as well. His expression seemed to be a little conflicted.

“Yes, the boss said that my thesis could potentially be submitted to The Astronomical Journal and Astronomy and Astrophysics, but their review mechanisms are different so I haven’t thought about it yet.”

As he spoke, he asked Shen Li, “What do you think?”

Shen Li shook her head.

“I’ve never opted for these two before, so I’m not very clear.”

When he said this, the expressions of the people across him became a little subtle.

“These two are the first-class core journals of astrophysics. You’ve never considered them before?”

Shen Li nodded.

“Yes.”

She paused and said honestly, “I only published one Universe sub-journal and one Universe main journal.”

There was dead silence after she said that.

Their expressions froze on their faces.

Shen Li smiled.

“Oh, I forgot to tell you. My name used to be Ning Li.”